Open Flame

Summary: I knew in that instant exactly how Sam felt when he saw Emily, exactly how Jacob felt when he saw Renesmee, exactly how Quil felt when he saw Claire. There were thoughts I had never known rushing through my head, from thoughts of a friendly nature, to thoughts of a passionate nature and everything in between. She drew me like an open flame drew a pyromaniac; and curiously, wonderfully, lovingly and lustfully, I had to follow her. I had to touch that open flame. Seth Clearwater comes back from college for Leah's wedding, and the gang gets back together. But when his car breaks down on the side of the road, a very beautiful, engaged young woman comes to the rescue. Can Seth vy for the attentions of his imprint and successfully win her? Author's Note: This fanfiction will be complete once the twelfth chapter is added! Thank you everyone for your support and reviews!

Notes:

11. Eleven - Without Words

Edward led me to the camp of the real werewolves. Neither of us bothered to run, probably because Edward thought I was too tired, and I didn’t want to be rude. So, we trudged through the snow and ice; or rather, I did, because Edward had always been more of the gliding sort anyway.

After Edward had told me what to expect, I could not bring myself to imagine her in that kind of incapacitated way. Instead, all my memories of her flashed on the giant screen of my mind. I could recall the night I imprinted on her with perfect clarity, from that sad little Bugatti, to her first smile, how alive her eyes looked, to her flaming red hair, and the look of pure confusion she gave me when I told her I was attracted to her, but couldn’t explain why.

There were more werewolves than I had ever seen in La Push. Hundreds stood there, a huge wall of fur and teeth. Maybe there were a thousand. I didn’t concern myself with counting, for after a while, I saw a splash of red hair upon the brilliant white snow.

Ginessa was sitting rather leisurely on the cold, hard ground. She had been given what appeared to be one blanket to keep her warm. Her skin, which was usually pale to begin with, was now paler than Edward’s, paler than death. The only thing about her that made me believe she was still living was her heartbeat. It was slow, so sluggish, in fact, that I was about halfway sure it would just stop at any given moment.

What is she thinking? I asked Edward somewhat frantically.

“Seth,” he said plainly. “Your face has been the only thing in her head since I left. Somehow, I don’t think that’s going to change.”

I whined involuntarily.

“I know,” whispered Edward.

“So, I suppose you were right, cold one,” thought the pack’s leader extremely clearly. “If we hurt the human, her lover would arrive almost instantaneously.”

Edward nodded.

I don’t mean any harm, I thought, looking at Edward.

“The shapeshifter does not mean you any harm,” he repeated.

They stifled laughter. “Well, of course he would not mean any harm, unless he had a death wish,” replied the leader. “Tell me, when is your daughter going to arrive?”

“Never,” snarled Edward.

They laughed again.

“I would not be so sure,” thought the wolf next to the apparent leader. This one I recognized from the raid at my home. “We hurt the girl, the lover came. What if we hurt the father? Will the daughter appear as well?”

At that moment, I saw all the hope drain from Edward’s face. It was not that he knew Reneesme would come, but instead that Bella would. And Jacob would know if Bella left, and he would tell Reneesme. It was what seemed inevitable, the fact that Edward, his wife, and his child, would be slaughtered in one day.

Hearing my thoughts, Edward looked at me with a rich sense of understanding. He knew I was right, and hated that I was.

“What an ingenious plan, Shane,” said the leader. “I knew there was a reason I kept you around.” He paused. “Do you accept your fate then, cold one?”

Edward looked him square in the eye and pondered for a moment. “I have told you everything. My daughter is beautiful, caring, curious, and everything but the volatile creature you have painted her as. She is quite the opposite; more fragile to you than Ginessa, the human. And yet, you fiercely desire to kill her.”

They considered his plea for a moment, but the leader took back his thoughts of redemption. “Yes, of course we do. We never forgive or forget. And we are always right.”

His voice changed to that of a fiercely hideous leader, yelling across the frozen desert. “Now, who wants to be responsible for the death of this cold blooded monster?”

There were cheers from every werewolf mouth, even the females and the children were excited about a massacre. It was like I was stuck in some Roman gladiator film, but instead of watching from the sidelines, I was in the ring.

A humongous shape emerged from the wall of fur. Dark and black, this Chayse wolf resembled Sam, but he was so extremely animalistic in his shape and movement that I stopped comparing him to any of the pack I had ever known.

“Now, my brethren, shall we annihilate the cold one, the human, or the shapeshifter first?”

I growled without thinking.

“I am the only one who will provoke my daughter to come, if that is what you are after,” said Edward softly. “The girl and the wolf have nothing to do with this.”

“That may be the case, leech, but it will be fun to kill them both as well as you, don’t you think?”

Still sitting in the middle of the snow, Ginessa had no response.

“Well, it seems most convenient to start with you, anyway, since you seem to be the only one putting up a fight. And you’ll be fun to kill.” He smiled wickedly. “Go on then, Chayse.”

The big black one prepared himself, crouched over in front of the wolves, Ginessa to one side, Edward only a few feet away from him. I wanted to pounce on him, to keep him from hurting Edward, or from killing Ginessa. There were so many different scenarios playing out in my head, but whether any of them would come true, and whether any of them included our survival was another matter entirely.

As he jumped for Edward, I threw myself in front of him. I had never been one for self-sacrifice, but somehow I thought that it was easier to do that than to sit by and watch everyone else die. If I died first, there would be less pain.

I was expecting the teeth to gnaw through my flesh, but nothing in particular seemed to happen. All I felt was the cold of Siberia as I closed my eyes. There was a strange echoing noise in the silence, a loud growl, a thump, and then nothing.

When I fluttered my eyelids open, Bella was standing less than a foot from me, a huge shield emitting from her body, covering the vast expanse of land from Ginessa to the forest behind us, keeping the Children of the Moon completely away.

The leader barked and yowled unappreciatively. “What in God’s name is this?” he bellowed.

“Nobody can get through it, sir,” thought Shane somewhat half-heartedly. “If Chayse can’t get through it, and I cannot torture the female cold one because of it…”

“They have the ability to shield,” he replied simply.

“Unfortunately for you, you are entirely correct,” said Bella, an amused smile on her face. “And there is no possible way you can get through this shield, not in five hundred years.”

I glanced at Edward, who had been whispering the thoughts of the werewolves to Bella so she could understand what was going on. There was so much adoration in his caramel eyes that it almost pained me to look at him. He stood up and lightly touched Bella’s waist from behind.

“You’re going to have to take Ginessa south, as soon and fast as possible, Seth,” said Bella softly.

I glanced over to the motionless redhead across from me, but sadness surrounded me as I did. I hated seeing her so broken.

“You have a lot of time to fix her, Seth,” replied Edward softly.

I nodded. How are all of us going to get out without getting hurt?

Edward conveyed my thoughts to Bella, who’s temples pulsed a little.

“Don’t worry about us. We can take care of ourselves.”

I whined. I won’t let you die. Haven’t we come close enough to that already?

“We can run faster than you, Seth,” replied Edward. “If Bella releases her shield, you and Ginessa can escape. She can reactivate it and fight the rest of them off. When they’re all too weak to protest or fight, we’ll release the shield and run in the opposite direction.”

“You’ll keep Ginessa warmer than she is, and if you find Jacob, you can tell him and Reneesme to go back to the house. Likewise, they will go and tell the rest of our family, and all of us will return to Forks,” said Bella.

I pouted a little. I loved all the Cullens as though they were a second family, and I didn’t want to leave them anytime too soon.

Edward smiled in response to my thoughts. “You are a part of our family, too, Seth. You’re Jacob’s brother, and Jacob is quickly becoming the closest thing to a song I will ever have.”

I grinned goofily back at him, making both Bella and Edward laugh .

“Are you read to go, Seth?” asked Bella, changing the mood seriously.

I nodded, and crouched at the edge of the shield with Ginessa in my arms.

“You have to run as fast as is possible,” warned Edward. “Don’t let them catch you.”

They’re still thinking about that?

“Considering is a better word,” he whispered. “The leader is scanning between killing you, and killing us.”

I sprinted out from the back. When I glanced back nearly ten seconds later, from about a mile away, the bodies of the wolves were scattered around the shield, and the leader was howling in anger and agony.

I could not stop for more than a millisecond; I needed to go south, and back east to Alaska. If I could find warmer waters, or even water with a thick layer of ice over it, it would be ten times easier to cross.

When I had made it to the forests of what I guessed was central China, I stopped for a quick break.

Ginessa looked up at me, her blue-green eyes empty and lifeless. She uttered one phrase. “I’m sorry.”

I wished at that moment that she could hear my thoughts as a wolf. She had absolutely nothing to be sorry for. If anyone should apologize, it should have been me, and then Jacob, for letting them take her. I hated that she felt so strongly about the situation, but could not do anything to help her.

All I did in response, then, was hold her closer to me, her head against my violently beating heart. I nuzzled the top of her head in adoration.

“Seth,” she whispered, the tiny vibrations of her voice rising and falling on my fur. “I love you.”

Everything about me brightened up. The journey between that vast Chinese forest, and across the ocean, to my apartment didn’t matter anymore. She was mine, no matter what the boundaries, the situation – it all ceased to amount to anything. I loved her more than she could ever know.

With this, the fact that Ginessa loved me, in my head, I found an untapped power within me that allowed the voyage back home to transpire with ease. An ocean? Simple.

Is she with you? thought Jake.

Yes, thank God.

What a brave knight! he exclaimed sarcastically.

And that makes you, what, exactly? The minor villain who sold out the princess to his comrade?

C’mon, Seth, you know it wasn’t like that.

Then what was it like, exactly? I demanded.

What do you want from me? His voice was angry now, and I could tell he was only a few feet away from me, running alongside.

An apology-

I already gave it to you-

And eternal servitude for being an inexcusable jackass. I laughed at the end of my thoughts to lighten the mood.

Aren’t you used to me being a jackass?

You know, I should, but it never grows on me. I guess you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

In the random pause, Jake asked, Where are you going?

Back to my apartment, I answered immediately. Carlisle, Esme, Alice, and Jasper are waiting there.

And Bella, Edward, and Nessie, finished Jake.

What? I glanced over to see that Jake was empty handed.

He sighed. Reneesme and I apparently have to take a break. He paused to growl, and imitated Bella perfectly in his head. “You’re spending too much time with her, Jake. She’s only seven, and she hasn’t been with Edward and I hardly at all lately.” And then Edward said, “And don’t think that you can convince some sort of sexual revolution on my daughter. She is not ready for sex, and she is prohibited from sex until she’s married. That’s my final word.” Jake sighed in his head. It is the most annoying set of rules to follow.

Jacob snorted. I don’t think Edward is ever going to get over the whole “overprotective Bella” deal. They were fine. If anyone would be in trouble, it would be Edward out of the two of them.

Why?

He may be a vampire, but he’s insanely self-sacrificial. Even if he knew Bella could get out safely, I’ll bet he insisted to stay behind just in case.

Weird.

I always thought so. But then again, the Cullens, as vampires, are strange to begin with.

I’m sorry you have to deal with the separation. Is it incredibly painful?

Undeniably so, he replied immediately. I have never been away from her. In seven years I’ve unconditionally stayed by her side.

We were cloaked in silence, then. Both our minds wandered off alone, unable to coherently participate in a conversation. But lack of conversation made us both run faster than ever. We made it to the Washington border before hardly any time had passed.

Jacob? Seth? Is that you guys?

Quil? I asked. What are you doing so far north?

I might ask you the same thing. He replied.

Jake sighed. I asked Quil and Embry to keep in wolf form. If something happened to you, we would have to alert the pack, and alert Leah and your Mom. Sam, too.

Why?

I don’t make the rules. It’s some random Quileute thing. Any time a member of the pack is separated and in danger, it’s my responsibility to keep everyone alert.

Quil snorted. Some Alpha male.

Jake snarled.

Sorry.

Well, we’re fine, Quil, so you can get back in range with Embry, Collin and Brady, and tell them to get back to school.

Sure thing.

Jake, you didn’t have to-

I didn’t want to, Seth, he replied with frustration.

Sorry.

He sighed. No, I’m sorry. It’s this weird thing…part of me is pulled to the responsibility I’m entitled to, and the other part of me is pulled directly to the pain associated with being away from her. At this point, I don’t know which allegiance pulls me with more strength.

I didn’t know what to say.

You don’t have to say or think anything. All I need is someone to listen.